Building block

ABSTRACT

A building block for erection of interior and exterior walls, partitions and like structures. The building block is shaped in such a way that by combining it in various ways it makes possible to obtain walls providing simultaneously building-technical advantages and aesthetical effects. The basic shape of the building block is, in the preferred embodiment, that of a cube from which four corner pieces have been cut away such that four triangular faces are formed in the cubic body. These triangular faces extend essentially in parallel with two opposite side faces of the cube, and have two of its sides contiguous to two of the remaining, non-opposite walls of the cube. The sides of the cutaway triangles opposite the apex define a rectangular face extending in pairs in parallel relationship with one diagonal line, and also in pairs in parallel relationship with the other diagonal line of the side opposite faces of the cube, one diagonal line crossing the other diagonal line preferably at right angles.

United States Patent Nordstrom [54] BUILDING BLOCK [72] Inventor: Per Chrlster Nordstrom, Nordenskialdsgatan 20, 5-413 09 Goteborg, Sweden [22] Filed: Jan. 28, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 110,527

[301 Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 22, 1971 Sweden ..1978/70 [52] US. Cl ..Z..52/608, 52/316, 52/574, D34/l5, DIS/2, 94/13 [51] Int. Cl. ..E04c l/l8, E04c 2/30 [58] Field ofSearch ..52/608-6l l, 316, 52/574, 575; 46/24, 25; D34/15; D18/2; 94/13 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Meyer Sheen Pessione Woodworth ..52/316 51 June 27, 1972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 995,309 6/1965 Great Britain ..46/25 Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-James L. Ridgill, Jr. Attorney-Kane, Dalsimer, Kane, Sullivan & Kurucz [57] ABSTRACT A building block for erection of interior and exterior walls, partitions and like structures. The building block is shaped in such a way that by combining it in various ways it makes possible to obtain walls providing simultaneously building-technical advantages and aesthetical effects. The basic shape of the building block is, in the preferred embodiment, that of a cube from which four corner pieces have been cut away such that four triangular faces are formed in the cubic body. These triangular faces extend essentially in parallel with two opposite side faces of the cube, and have two of its sides contiguous to two of the remaining, non-opposite walls of the cube. The sides of the cut-away triangles opposite the apex define a rectangular face extending in pairs in parallel relationship with one diagonal line, and also in pairs in parallel relationship with the other diagonal line of the side opposite faces of the cube, one diagonal line crossing the other diagonal line preferably at right angles.

5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJum 1972 3,672.1 1O

sum 10F 5 N VE N TOR P66 aye/575g Malay/ ream I wmeA/ag PATENTEnJuxzv m2 SHEET 20F 5 INVENTOR 66 646/5/66 A azpsneo/v/ surname atocx BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When erecting house facades, partition or interior walls in for instance public buildings, exterior separation walls and the like, it has hitherto been usual to provide them with relief surfaces of various structures and textures, for decorative or acoustical-modifying purposes, for example, or to permit passage of air and light. To a certain extent each one of these purposes may be filled by conventional bricks or other, entirely parallelepiped-shaped building blocks or building elements. This requires, however, great skill in the workmen erecting the walls as for instance bricks may be displaced relatively each other in various ways such that the wall structure becomes uneven or irregular.

Exterior walls have also been built from special building bricks. These have, however, limited ranges of usage and in addition they are clumsy and cost-consuming. In addition, it has not been possible to provide bricks generally satisfying the high demands on strength nowadays required.

There is then a long-felt need for a building element which satisfies high aesthetic demands while at the same time providing various advantages from a building-technical standpoint.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To satisfy the above requirements the present invention provides a building block which consists of a generally parallelepiped body and which is characterized by four corner notches, arranged in pairs, being formed in said body, at least each pair being of uniform configuration, each one of said notches defining in the body one triangular face, said face being essentially parallel with two opposite side faces of the body and contiguous to two other, nonopposite side faces of the body, and also define one rectangular face which extends from said first-mentioned opposite side faces, the corner notch rectangular faces extending in pairs parallel with and on either sides of, respectively, a first diagonal plane extending along one diagonal line of the first-mentioned opposite side faces, and a second diagonal plane extending along the other diagonal line of said opposite side faces.

in accordance with a preferred embodiment the basic configuration of the body is that of a cube and wherein the cutaway comer notches are mutually congruent.

Preferably, the height of each notch should be a third of the total height of the cube.

Despite the simple structure of the building block in accordance with the invention it offers a great number of building-technical advantages in combination with decorative effects. Thanks to its well balanced proportions highly satisfactory strength charactcristica are obtained in the individual block, nd by joining together a number of blocks to form a facade or the like excellent strength characteristics are obtained in the facade as a whole despite the light appearance thereof.

The building block in accordance with the invention lends itself to a variety of combinations and consequently it is suitable for a very large number of usages. it may for instance be used for the facades of buildings, for construction of interior and exterior walls, stair-cases, entrances and partition walls in public buildings, balcony separation walls, trellis-work, lattices and the like. The building block may be laid so as to form various combinations to achieve either purely decorative effects or to obtain particular technical advantages, decorative effects being, however, automatically obtained also in block combinations where the primary aim is the technical advantages. The building blocks may be erected and joined together in combinations, such as for instance to form a wall where passage of light and air is desirable. To obtain this it is possible to choose a building block combination which is adjusted to the conditions of light, the arrangement at the same time preventing the wall from being seen through directly from the front. In a similar way, one may choose a combination adjusted to the prevailing air streams such that suitable air passage is obtained. Such combinations of the building block are very useful, particularly in countries having a hot climate, for erection of separation walls between balconies extending along building facades. Many combinations of the building block enhance, owing to the relief surface provided thereby, extensive shade-formation which is particularly useful in hot countries while the sun is in zenith and where the shades thus formed result in less heating of the very wall surface. Obviously this is of great value when the block is being used for house facades and the like. In addition the relief surface formed by means of the building block in accordance with the invention has an acoustical efiect which is advantageous for certain premises.

BRIEF DESCRlP'l'lON OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described more in detail in the following with reference to some examples thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawings. in these:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of a building block in accordance with the invention, the block being shown in two various positions.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the building block.

FIGS. 4 and 5 and 6 illustrate three difierent examples of walls built with these blocks, permitting passage of light and air.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate two different examples of walls having good shade-forming efi'ects.

FlG. 9, finally, illustrates three adjoining walls erected from the building block in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTlON OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As most clearly understood from FIGS. 1 and 2, the building block 1 in the illustrated embodiment is constructed from an imagined cube 2. From this cube 2 are cut away four corner portions so as to form four mutually congruent comer notches 3, 4, 5, 6. Each one of these comer notches defines a triangular face 7, 8, 9, 10, respectively, which is parallel with two opposite side faces 11, 12 of the imagined cube 2. Each such triangular face is contiguous to two of the remaining four side faces l3, 14 of the cube, these latter side faces being perpendicular relatively each other, and it is likewise contiguous to one rectangular face 15, 16, l7, 18, these rectangular faces extending perpendicularly from each one of said opposite side faces ll, 12.

It appears most clearly from the plan view illustrated in FIG. 3 that the rectangular faces 15, 16 of comer notches 3, 4 extend on either side of, and in parallel with a first diagonal plane along the diagonal line 19 of one 11 of the said opposite side faces, and that the rectangular faces l7, 18 of the other two comer notches 5, 6 extend on either side of and in parallel with the diagonal plane along the diagonal line 20 of the other one 12 of said opposite side faces, the line 20 crossing line 19 at right angles. Consequently, the rectangular face pair 15, 16 extend perpendicularly to rectangular face pair 17, 18.

In the example shovm in P16. 4, a wall 21 is erected from a number of building blocks which are positioned on top of each other in vertical rows with one opposite face 11 abutting against and by means of its entire area covering the corresponding face 11 of the vertically immediately adjoining block. Similarly, one opposite face 12 will rest against a corresponding face 112 of the vertically immediately adjoining block. In a vertical row, a face 1 1 thus will rest against another face it and a face 12 against another face 12, identical pillars 22 being thus formed which are joined together in the lateral direction. This g'ves an aesthetically very pleasing surface, wherein channels 23 passing through the wall 21 are provided. These channels 23 permit the passage of both light and air but since they extend obliquely through the wall, the latter cannot be seen through from directly in front.

The wall 24 illustrated in H6. 5 likewise presents obliquely extending channels 25 appearing in the vertical direction with a pitch corresponding to double the pitch of channels 23 of the block combination show in FIG. 4, channels 25 having, however, a cross-sectional area corresponding to only half the cross-sectional area of channels 23. This is achieved by positioning the building blocks 1 uniformly in horizontal rows 26 and such that each block 1 positioned above one such row 26 of blocks rests by means of an opposite side face 12 on the corresponding opposite side face 11 of two building blocks in an immediately lower row 26, adjoining side faces 11, 12 extending normally relauvely each other.

The wall 27 illustrated in FIG. 6 is provided with channel openings 28 positioned in such a way as to the possibilities of seeing through the wall while at the same time permitting passage of air and light. This is achieved by positioning the blocks I such that they form imagined pillars 29 with adjoining faces 11, 12 being perpendicular relatively each other and with adjacent pillars 29 placed so as to form mirror images of each other.

FIG. 7 illustrates a wall 20 which is imagined formed by turning alternating pillars 22 constructed as illustrated in the example shown in FIG. 4 through 90 about their vertical axes such that adjoining building blocks 1 of the pillars 22' are mirror images or each other. This arrangement gives a very decorative wall 30 with extensive shade formation. In addition, it provides for a decorative comer pillar 22 without the need of extra arrangements.

By arranging the building blocks as illustrated in FIG. 8 a wall 31 is formed which likewise presents excellent shade formation thanks to the recesses 32 formed in the wall surface. FIG. 9, finally, illustrates the wall 30 shown in FIG. 7 onto which a third wall 33 provided with box-like recesses 34 has been built, these recesses 34 providing for shade formation. This example illustrates that it is possible by means of the invention to form a corner 35 common to all three walls without the need of using any special elements such as half-blocks and the like.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated and described in the aforegoing but several modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims. It is, for instance, possible to form the building block 1 in an imagined right-angled prism with notches formed therein, the triangular faces of which are not isosceles. Furthermore, all the walls illustrated may be positioned with their horisontal extention forming instead the vertical extension, i.e., be turned through 90. The building block likewise lends itself to other wall combinations than the ones illustrated. In the aforesaid only outer corners formed by the building block in accordance with the invention have been described and shown. However, inner comers may be formed in the same simple and advantageous manner by combining the block in various ways.

The building block in accordance with the invention as described above has cubic configuration, although the finished block does not exhibit great similarities with a cube. In the above description the expression notches" has been used, but this expression is not to be regarded as limiting the invention to a block manufactured by forming notches in a cubic blank. These expressions have only been chosen to describe in the clearest and easiest way the structure of the building block. It is thus obvious that the building block may advantageously be given its shape directly through extrusion or moulding of concrete, ceramic materials, plastics and a variety of other materials.

What I claim is:

l. A building block consisting of an essentially parallelepipedal body, characterized by four comer notches, being formed in said body and arranged in pairs, at least each pair of notches being of unifonn configuration, each one of said notches defining in said body one triangular face being essentially parallel with two opposite side faces of said body and contiguous to two other, non-opposite side faces of said body, and also defining one rectangular face extending from said first-mentioned opposite side faces, said corner notch rectangular faces extendinsin airs parallel with andon either side of, respectrvely a t agonal plane extending along one diagonal line of the first-mentioned opposite side faces of the body, and a second diagonal plane extending along the other diagonal line of said opposite side faces of the body.

2. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration.

3. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration and said rectangular faces extend at a mutually equal distance away from their associated diagonal plane.

4. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration and said rectangular faces extend at a mutually equal distance away from their associated diagonal plane, at least each pair of said comer notches being congruent.

5. A building block according to claim 1, wherein the height of each notch is a third of the total height of the parallelepipedal body.

t i i i 

1. A building block consisting of an essentially parallelepipedal body, characterized by four corner notches, being formed in said body and arranged in pairs, at least each pair of notches being of uniform configuration, each one of said notches defining in said body one triangular face being essentially parallel with two opposite side faces of said body and contiguous to two other, non-opposite side faces of said body, and also defining one rectangular face extending from said first-mentioned opposite side faces, said corner notch rectangular faces extending in pairs parallel with and on either side of, respectively a first diagonal plane extending along one diagonal line of the first-mentioned opposite side faces of the body, and a second diagonal plane extending along the other diagonal line of said opposite side faces of the body.
 2. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration.
 3. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration and said rectangular faces extend at a mutually equal distance away from their associated diagonal plane.
 4. A building block according to claim 1, wherein said body has cubic configuration and said rectangular faces extend at a mutually equal distance away from their associated diagonal plane, at least each pair of said corner notches being congruent.
 5. A building block according to claim 1, wherein the height of each notch is a third of the total height of the parallelepipedal body. 